Frustrations in Final Four: Pitt volleyball collects fourth straight loss in Final Four

The best team in Pitt volleyball history fell short in the Final Four to Louisville on Thursday night, losing in four sets.  

Louisville head coach Dani Busboom Kelly referred to the Panthers as “maybe the best team in the country,” even after the Cardinals beat the Panthers.

And the fact that Pitt was debatably one of the best teams in the country according to the coach of a team that is in the National Championship match is what makes this loss to Louisville so unbelievably frustrating. 

Pitt had the best players the program has ever had in arguably four of the seven starting positions.

Sophomore opposite hitter Olivia Babcock is easily the best hitter from the right pin in Pitt volleyball history and maybe the best player in Pitt volleyball history. Babcock was the first Pitt player to ever win AVCA National Player of the Year after she was the star of the No. 1 overall seed and led Pitt to a 29-1 regular season record and 33-2 overall record.

“She’s going to get her kills,” Busboom Kelly said of Babcock. “She’s a great player. She’s extremely physical….You can do everything perfectly against Babcock, and she’s still going to kill the ball.”

Babcock’s sophomore running mate and teammate in high school club volleyball, outside hitter Torrey Stafford, is one of the best left pin hitters Pitt has ever had. Stafford was a First-Team All American in 2024 and had an otherworldly .358 hitting percentage in 2024 — No. 1 among all Power Five pin hitters.

On the bright side, Stafford and Babcock will return for two more seasons at Pitt. But the Panthers are losing multiple players on its team to graduation who have led the Panthers to four consecutive Final Four appearances.

The two graduations that bring the most pain to the Pitt program are senior libero Emmy Klika and senior setter Rachel Fairbanks. 

Early in the season, head coach Dan Fisher was adamant that Pitt’s “setting and libero play is as good as it has ever been.” And in the Final Four, that setting and libero play looked the part. 

In their last collegiate matches, Fairbanks tallied 53 assists and led Pitt to a .316 hitting percentage. Then, Klika had a season-high 21 digs and a perfect reception rate, not making an error on all 19 balls she was served.

If nothing less, the best libero and setter Pitt has ever had went out at the top of their games, doing everything they could to help Pitt make the National Championship.

Although sixth year outside hitter Valeria Vazquez Gomez and graduate student serving Cat Flood are not the best starters in Pitt volleyball history, they made key contributions for Pitt volleyball over the years. 

Vazquez Gomez was the steady veteran leader for Pitt.

“We’ve talked a lot about Valeria’s energy… it’s just different,” Fairbanks said. “…Valeria is reassuring, encouraging.”

And Flood was the clutch serving specialist who helped the Panthers when she was on the floor in her one serving rotation for Klika.

“I feel like every time Cat steps on the court, she makes an impact some way and somehow,” Stafford said. “Whether that be like going on a big run for us, or just emotionally bringing whatever we need on the court.”

Fairbanks, Klika, Vazquez Gomez and Flood have some of the rarest accomplishments in sports. The four reached the Final Four four times, but it wasn’t enough to make the next step. 

None of these four making a National Championship game appearance, despite two of the four earning recognition as the best player in their respective position make the loss so unbelievably frustrating. 

“I couldn’t have asked them to do any more,” Babcock said of the seniors. “They put their entire heart on the court today.”

Pitt had a chance to make history on Thursday night — making its first National Championship appearance in program history. Instead, history repeated itself as the Panthers lost its fourth straight Final Four game.

“We failed,” Fisher said. “But at least we went for it.”